Picked the old mystery novel over the hot new thriller for book club last month

I had to choose between a forgotten 1950s noir and the latest bestseller everyone's talking about. Went with the noir because I was sick of hype (you know, the usual). Half the group loved it, the other half fell asleep by chapter 3. Anyone else ever pick the weird option and regret it or not?

4 comments

4 Comments

max22315d ago

Oh man, that's such a good move though! I actually think the book that divides the room is way more interesting than the one everyone quietly agrees is fine. The real magic happens when half your group is fired up and the other half is grumpy, because then you actually get a debate instead of just nodding along and eating crackers. Plus, picking the obscure one means you might discover something genuinely strange and cool, which is worth the risk of boring a few people. You probably unlocked a better conversation than if everyone had just said "yeah that was good" about the thriller.

the_hayden15d agoMost Upvoted

That whole "quietly agrees it's fine" thing is honestly the death of book club energy. It's like everyone just shows up to politely validate each other's choices and then someone brings cookies and you all go home feeling okay about it. But when half the room is genuinely mad about a character's decision or the weird ending or even the writing style itself, that's when you get people leaning forward in their chairs and actually listening to each other. And yeah, sometimes the book that flops with two thirds of the group ends up being a total gem for the other third, which is almost better because you get to argue about what makes something "good" in the first place. The obscure pick also forces people out of their comfort zone (even if they grumble about it), which is kind of the whole point of reading together anyway.

gibson.morgan14d ago

Buddy of mine picked this dense experimental novel for his group once and three people walked out halfway through the meeting. The rest stayed until midnight arguing about it, and now those people are the only ones who still hang out regularly.

the_christopher14d ago

Exactly. Controversy beats crackers every time.